


Free Study

by jolly



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Parent Death, Verbal Abuse, just some nerds being best friends, maybe a little gay. maybe a lot gay. maybe they dont kiss but they're so gay, oops it got dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-02 07:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolly/pseuds/jolly
Summary: Three high school freshmen quickly become friends despite sharing no classes except a free study period. As they grow closer they find deeper, darker, hidden sides in each other- but that's what friends are for, isn't it?





	Free Study

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyyyyy who else is HYPED for Discovery??????  
> Anyway I had some Feelings today about our brave Triumvirate and I wanted to write something new.  
> Forgive them, they're like. Fourteen.  
> I know some of you are waiting for the next chapter of SNW and I'm sorry I haven't updated. Got a case of the writer's block (and that's besides the fact I'm only free to write on weekends) but I promise I'm working on it!  
> That being said, please enjoy! LLAP

Clutching a binder and pencil case to his chest, Bones eased open the glass library doors with all the apologetic shyness of a week-one freshman. It was, unsurprisingly, a lot smaller than the public library only a few blocks away, and simpler. Just a librarian's desk, some worktables, and a few comfy chairs, surrounded by shelves and shelves of books. Bones suspected they were mostly academic nonfiction, for those old-fashioned students and teachers who referenced actual books rather than online resources. But the library was much too quiet- it couldn't be that the free study period was here, now. He nervously fumbled in the backpack slung over his shoulder and pulled out a wrinkled copy of his schedule, scanned it, and checked the time on his phone. It was definitely supposed to be this period, so where was everybody? He couldn't be the only one taking this elective. 

Just then, another student opened the door behind him. Bones, realizing he'd been standing right inside the door, stepped aside with a mumbled apology. He watched the other boy curiously as he walked past him with a confident stride. Probably a theater kid, Bones guessed, if his outfit was anything to go by. This guy was pretty much the poster boy for hipster chic. The student stopped short a few steps ahead, seeming to notice the emptiness of the library. A moment later, he danced ever so charmingly over to the librarian, who was busy doing... something at her desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

The librarian looked up, absently sweeping a stray hair into her gray bun. "How can I help you, hon?"

He pushed his black hipster glasses up into his blond hipster hair and gave a radiant smile. "You see, I've got a free study period right now-"

"It's upstairs in cafeteria three," she interrupted, returning her attention to whatever she had been doing.

"Thank you, ma'am," he said, bouncing right on back to the door.

Well, that was lucky, Bones thought as he tried to follow the student as inconspicuously as possible. He started getting nervous again when he realized they were going the wrong way. And then almost died of cardiac arrest when the radiant hipster boy halted suddenly, and turned one hundred eighty degrees right into Bones's face, and said:

"You must also be in free study since you followed me out of the library. I don't suppose you know where the cafeteria is? Because I'm totally lost."

Overcoming his shock, Bones scowled at him. "You sure's hell don't act like it," he grumbled.

The boy laughed a golden, sparkling laugh that made Bones have to fight down an epidemic smile. "You're cute," the boy said finally, "and I'm Jim. You do know where the cafeteria is though?"

Feeling too hot, Bones nodded regretfully. 

"Well, lead the way, cutie!" Jim commanded with a sweep of his arm. Definitely a theater kid.

"Asshole," said Bones under his breath, and tried to remember the way to the cafeteria. 

* * *

 The teacher overseeing the class gave them a nasty look and deliberately marked a big red L (for "late") next to their names. Jim offered a sweet apology and the good excuse that they were freshmen who hadn't learned their way around school yet, but it was unclear how much it affected her. 

Bones looked around at the tables occupied by students of all kinds with their heads down, silently doing any kind of homework or stealthily playing with their phones. Wanting to be undisturbed and not made to engage with other students, he chose to sit at a table occupied only by a slender boy with his void-black hair styled into an undercut with bowl bangs. Unfortunately, Jim slid into the chair across from him. Bones sighed audibly, and Jim giggled. The other kid studying at their table looked up at them irritably, his expression clearly implying that they were disturbing him, and if they were going to bicker, they would have to do it elsewhere. Bones took that as his cue to open his notebook and start doing homework. Jim, however, thought it would be better to keep annoying the poor guy.

"Sorry for bothering you," he murmured with a soft smile. "I'm Jim, and this is Cute."

"My name is McCoy."

The boy blinked his big dark eyes, face blanking in awe. "Oh, that's okay. I'm Spock. I'm just trying to study, so could you please be quieter?"

"Sure thing." He scribbled something in a notebook and tore it off, sliding it across the table to Bones. 

_he's cute too! owo_

Bones glared at him for a few seconds before deciding to be the bigger man and do his biology homework. Jim wasn't wrong, though. Spock was pretty cute, and also just pretty, but in a different way than Jim. Jim was the sun. Apollo. Almost blinding in his perfection. Spock had a more natural, subtle sweetness, although his personality was questionable. Uptight at best. 

Bones tried to focus on DNA polymerase. Jim twirled a pen into existence and started clicking it incessantly. He was about to glare again when Spock beat him to it, except with words instead of passive-aggressive facial contortions. 

"Jim. Please stop. That's very distracting."

Somehow, Jim made his sigh sound angelic. Bones hated it. "Sorry," said the offender. "I'm a bit bored, that's all. What homework are you doing?"

Spock clearly wasn't interested in talking about it but was apparently too polite to ignore him. Hashtag relatable. "Physics."

"Physics?" Bones blurted. Spock eyed his biology work with an infuriating blank expression.

"Yes, physics. I'm in an advanced science program, so I finished phys-sci and bio last year. This year I'm doing chem and physics. After that I'll take AP supplementary courses."

And that was that, Bones hated him. Pretentious bastard. He hated Jim, too. Grumpily screwing his earbuds in, Bones decided to ignore them both for the rest of the period. But even through the song, he could hear Spock say, "I can't listen to music while I work. It's too distracting." With a groan, he turned up the volume. 


End file.
